ENGLAND wicketkeeper Alec Stewart has been cleared of allegations that he took money from a bookmaker for information regarding the pitch and weather conditions in India in 1993.

The decision comes in a statement to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) from Gerard Elias QC, chairman of the ECB's discipline standing committee.

The statement was issued with the full knowledge and backing of Lord Condon, director of the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit.

The unit had been investigating the allegations made against Stewart.

The statement has been accepted fully by Lord MacLaurin, chairman of the ECB.

Lord MacLaurin said: "Lord Condon's anti-corruption unit has undertaken a very thorough investigation into the allegations made against Alec Stewart and has concluded that there exists no substantive evidence justifying proceedings against Alec in relation to this matter.

"The matter is therefore closed."

The full statement read from Mr Elias read: "On Friday July 6, I received a confidential report from Lord Condon, head of the ICC's anti-corruption unit (ACU), relating to an investigation into an allegation made against Alec Stewart, that in 1993 he had received money from an Indian bookmaker for providing material information about a match or series of matches then taking place.

"The allegation, originally made to the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which received considerable publicity after it was published on the internet in November 2000, was immediately denied through the media by Alec Stewart and categorically rejected by him in two telephone interviews (when the allegations surfaced he was abroad) conducted by the ECB's (the board) chairman and chief executive.

"The ACU, at the request of the ECB, then began a painstaking inquiry into the matter. Their essential aim was to ascertain whether evidence existed to substantiate or support the allegation against Mr Stewart and, if it did, to bring it forward or make it available for the board to use in taking any appropriate action against him, through its disciplinary procedures."